BEST PRACTICES FOR STUDYING OLDER MIGRANTS IN CONTEXT

Abstract Understanding health outcomes of the older migrant (ages 60+) requires insight into the perceptions of the older person and considering the impact of the environment in which the older person lives. The four papers on this panel address these issues, each using a different methodology. Bilecen’s study, using qualitative methods, examines the impact of the wording of questions on the ways in which older Turkish migrants in the Netherlands discuss loneliness. The paper helps us understand both perceptions of older migrants and the influence of methodology used on the types of responses collected. Diederich’s paper on Cuban migrants to the United States uses census data to investigate the impact of changes in the environment of arrival at different points in time on care arrangements later in life. She demonstrates the value and limitations of using this type of data. Torres uses a survey of the scientific literature to ask questions about the impact of bigotry on the well-being of older immigrants and whether lack of attention to this topic means there is an important missing piece in our understanding of the experience of the older migrant. Glicksman et. al. use clinical data to describe interactions with the formal health and social service systems by persons of limited English proficiency, an opportunity to understand both actual service use and the benefits and limitations of using clinical data for this purpose. Schrauf’s response will discuss both the findings and the relation of methods to goals in the study of older migrants. This is an International Aging and Migration Interest Group Sponsored Symposium.

recruitment required strong partnership with the state corrections system, how we had to be cognizant of measures that were meaningful in the context of the unique environment (prison activities of daily living), and how measures were modified (when life gets hard I just want to escape).As we continue to recruit persons ≥50 seeking SUD treatment, we will discuss the usefulness of snowball recruiting and balancing decisions regarding modification of inclusion criteria while maintaining integrity of the original research question.

TECHNIQUES FOR OVERCOMING CHALLENGES TO RESEARCH WITH INDIVIDUALS NEARING THE END OF LIFE
Ellis Dillon 1 , Meghan Martinez 2 , Martina Li 2 , Alyssa Hernandez 2 , Su-Ying Liang 2 , and Manali Patel 3 , 1. UConn Health,Farmington,Connecticut,United States,2. Sutter Health,Palo Alto,California,United States,3. Stanford University,Stanford,California,United States People living with advanced disease and nearing the end of their lives are often omitted in research on healthcare and the lifespan.This omission occurs for practical, ethical, and cultural reasons.Drawing on examples from studies on individuals receiving home hospice care, and individuals with advanced cancer and their caregivers, we will review (1) practical, ethical, and cultural challenges to doing this research, (2) techniques to increase access, recruitment, and participation through developing partnerships, flexibility and resource allocation, and (3) research team training and support.Practical challenges include the unpredictability of illness and symptoms leading to cancellations and increased attrition, and increased time and resources needed to recruit, consent, and travel to community residences.Ethical and cultural challenges include concerns about "vulnerability," and stigma around directly discussing dying.Techniques to facilitate successful inclusion of these populations include developing partnerships with community organizations, clinical teams, and patient or family advocates, justifying and allocating sufficient resources and flexibility in study design and word choices to reflect the spectrum of understanding and experiences, and additional training and support for research staff.Other techniques to include this population include use of secondary data, reconsidering research exclusion criteria, and surveying/ interviewing family members and other caregivers.Hard to reach populations are often overlooked, yet they are vital to ensuring full representation of lived experience.Science benefits from developing strategies to include these populations in research.

BEST PRACTICES FOR STUDYING OLDER MIGRANTS IN CONTEXT
Chair: Ashley Ritter Co-Chair: Allen Glicksman Discussant: Robert Schrauf Understanding health outcomes of the older migrant (ages 60+) requires insight into the perceptions of the older person and considering the impact of the environment in which the older person lives.The four papers on this panel address these issues, each using a different methodology.Bilecen's study, using qualitative methods, examines the impact of the wording of questions on the ways in which older Turkish migrants in the Netherlands discuss loneliness.The paper helps us understand both perceptions of older migrants and the influence of methodology used on the types of responses collected.Diederich's paper on Cuban migrants to the United States uses census data to investigate the impact of changes in the environment of arrival at different points in time on care arrangements later in life.She demonstrates the value and limitations of using this type of data.Torres uses a survey of the scientific literature to ask questions about the impact of bigotry on the well-being of older immigrants and whether lack of attention to this topic means there is an important missing piece in our understanding of the experience of the older migrant.Glicksman et.al. use clinical data to describe interactions with the formal health and social service systems by persons of limited English proficiency, an opportunity to understand both actual service use and the benefits and limitations of using clinical data for this purpose.Schrauf's response will discuss both the findings and the relation of methods to goals in the study of older migrants.This is an International Aging and Migration Interest Group Sponsored Symposium.

"GOD ALONE EXISTS IN SOLITUDE": INTERVIEWING OLD MIGRANTS ABOUT LONELINESS Basak Bilecen, University of Groningen, Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
Current research emphasizes the need for a more critical reflective approach to studying older migrants, with particular attention paid to methodological and ethical challenges during fieldwork.One of the key methodological challenges researchers face is selecting appropriate questions, as the questions asked can influence the insights gained into the phenomenon under study.This is because researchers gain an understanding of the phenomenon based on the questions they ask.Previous research on the well-being of older migrants has primarily focused on their family relationships, health status, social participation into activities, and vulnerabilities.However, an important question to understand the well-being of older migrants is whether and to what extent they experience loneliness.This study involved conducting 20 semi-structured interviews with first-generation Turkish migrants over the age of 65 living in northern Netherlands.The findings suggest that the phrasing of questions plays a significant role in both how participants interpret the questions and their responses.During the interviews, while loneliness was generally considered a negative issue, some participants approached it from a religious perspective, leading to reflection on more fundamental existential questions, which in turn led to denial.

IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCES AND CARE ARRANGEMENTS LATER IN LIFE: EVIDENCE FROM THE MARIEL BOATLIFT
Freya Diederich, University of Bremen, Bremen, Bremen, Germany The role of public policy in older immigrants' use of and access to services has mainly been regarded with respect to its legal framework.However, the way public policies are framed and societies' perceptions of immigrant groups can additionally influence immigrants' experiences, with long-lasting effects on needs and services use later in life.Still, the importance of these mechanisms has rarely been analyzed.This study uses the Mariel boatlift in 1980 as a case study to assess the relationship between circumstances that surround an immigrants' cohort and their care arrangement later in life.Cuban immigrants from the Mariel boatlift were perceived in a different way by the federal government and the general population than Cuban immigrants who arrived previously.Based on data from the American Community Survey (2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017)(2018)(2019)(2020)(2021), care arrangements of older Cubans who arrived in 1980, who are limited in daily activities, and who reside in the Miami area are compared to care arrangements of Cubans that immigrated before.Regression models are estimated and individual characteristics are accounted for.Compared to Cubans who arrived before 1980, Cubans of the Mariel boatlift are more likely to live in the community than in an institutional setting.However, among those living in the community, Cubans of the Mariel boatlift reveal a higher risk of living alone.The results suggest that Cubans of the Mariel boatlift are at higher risk for unmet needs.It is discussed how circumstances that surround immigrants' cohort of arrival shape immigrants' services needs and use.

RACISM IN RESEARCH ON OLDER MIGRANTS AND ETHNO-RACIAL MINORITIES: INSIGHTS FROM TWO SCOPING REVIEWS
Sandra Torres, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Uppsala Lan, Sweden The study of ethno-racialized minorities used to be primarily the domain of American social gerontologists.Metaanalyses of this scholarship have shown that this research has so far been characterized by two sets of practices: it engages in racialization but vaguely acknowledges racism, and it seems inequality-obsessed but justice-oblivious.Some gerontologists have therefore argued that the scholarly imagination that informs inquiries on older ethno-racialized minorities needs to be expanded, and that one way to do this could entail taking cues from European migration scholars' inquiries on aging and old age.These scholars place the social position that is migrancy (rather than ethnicity and/or race) at the center of their scholarly imagination.This presentation presents the results of a scoping review of peer-reviewed literature published between 1990-2022 that focuses specifically on how the literature on older migrants engages with racism (since literature on older ethno-racialized minorities was in focus in another scoping review; 1998-2017).The review shows that although scholarship on older migrants recognizes that these axes of oppression could have an impact in their life-courses, empirical inquiries on the ways in which older people experience such oppression are still quite rare.The presentation will juxtapose the results of both scoping reviews in order to argue that our failure to inquire into older migrants', and older ethno-racialized minorities' experiences of racism impedes us from furthering our understanding of how the social positions that are ethnicity, race and migrancy impact (on their own and together) people's experiences of aging and old age.